What's the problem?
The UK has a huge sugar problem.
There’s simply too much of it – nearly three times more than we should be consuming to stay within the Recommended Daily Allowance. This isn’t just a health issue. It’s an environmental one too – at home and abroad.
An oversupply of sugar means it’s everywhere: in our food, on our shelves, and in products targeted at children.
The results? Soaring rates of tooth decay (the leading cause of child hospital admissions), diabetes, heart disease, and other serious health issues.
But the damage doesn’t stop there.
In the UK, sugar beet is grown on some of our most fertile farmland, degrading our soils at an alarming rate.
Our research shows that sugar beet takes up nearly as much land as all other vegetable crops combined — land that could be growing nutritious food, especially when the UK has a national shortage of fruit and veg to meet our population’s needs.
As for imported sugar cane, its production is linked to deforestation, water scarcity, land grabs and even modern slavery in countries already hit hardest by climate breakdown.
The sugar industry is rooted in colonial violence and continues to concentrate power in the hands of a few.
In the UK, just two companies — British Sugar and Tate & Lyle Sugar — dominate the market. Meanwhile, small farmers, the environment, and public health pay the price.
The bottom line? We don’t need this much sugar. It’s time to cut the sugar pollution.
